Twisted Throne (Bratva Born #2)

14. Adriana

Adriana

I feel as if I’ve lost my mind. As if the entire world has tipped on its axis and everything is different. Sounds are weird, colors are bright. Maybe I’m tripping too.

Dimitri is sitting next to me, tense, and Alexis is across from me, glancing at me as if I’m an unexploded bomb. There’s also Damen and his wife, Maya, in the car with us. I smile at Maya. She helped save me, and her ripped dress and fake blood apparently were part of it.

They’ve told me the basics, but then the car lapsed into silence.

I’m so grateful to Dimitri. He saved Cade, and then he came for me.

As well as the gratitude is burning desire, I want him too. Just his warmth and scent next to me are setting every single synapses firing.

When we get back to the club, I’m going to screw his brains out. I won’t be the compliant creature he thought he had before, though. I’ve changed. Elementally.

Too much has happened.

“Where is my father?” I ask.

Dimitri turns to me. “Let’s talk when we get back. We will head to the club, clean up, pack, and sort a flight slot. We can talk then.”

“Is he alive?” I press.

“Yes, he’s alive as far as we are aware, but he wasn’t with Cade.”

I nod and let it go for now. After all, I don’t want to air the horror show of dirty linen that is my family in front of everyone. There are cars behind us. Full of terrifying men. The huge giant, Priest. Some of Nikolai Volkov’s men, wearing balaclavas.

All with weapons slung over their shoulders.

Across from me, though, is a woman who walked into a pack of wolves with nothing more than her torn dress, a good story, and more bravery than most of these men will ever know.

They walk around in the world apex beings. These men do anyway. Perhaps not most men. These ones, though? With their swagger and their power, their muscles, their guns, and their wealth. What do they know of weakness? Of the bravery it took Maya to do her part in this? Brute strength must be a nice thing to have.

I stare out the window, the silence in the car heavy.

We arrive back at the fancy place Nikolai owns, with carpets up the stairs at the entrance and those thick ropes you get to cordon people off. Inside it has the smell of expensive wood and leather. I thank every single person who came for me, and just before we go upstairs, I hug Maya tight and sotto voce say to her, “Thank you for doing what you did. It took so much more bravery than anyone else, and I’ll truly appreciate it forever.”

She shocks me when she says, “It wasn’t brave. Honestly.” She hugs me and whispers in my ear. “Don’t ever tell my husband because he worries, but I love this shit.” Then she kisses me on the cheek and follows her husband upstairs.

Dimitri and I have been given an opulent suite in this place that seems to have more rooms than you can count. We head up there after the goodnights and thank yous have all been said.

Dimitri closes the door and stares at me. I place the picture carefully against one wall and then turn and stare right back. “This isn’t the original,” I say. “He says it is in a safe, in a bank. There’s probably stuff in there worth a lot of money. Maybe we should take it and redistribute it to those he hurt.”

A muscle in his cheek tics. “How do you suggest we do that?”

I shrug. “Not sure.”

“I’m not Robin Hood. I came for the only thing that matters to me.” His eyes glitter in the dim light.

I take him in. The broad shoulders. The dark hair. The handsome features. Those pretty eyes, with the hard jaw, and slightly bent nose. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. His beauty makes me weak for him. He’s not a good man, and I shouldn’t desire him, but I do, and after the past week, I’m not going to deny myself the things I want any longer. I could have been dead if things had gone differently. Dead before I even got to truly live. Well, now I want to live.

I want to start with Dimitri, to ravage him. Tear his clothes off and devour him. I have a weird energy running around inside me, but first I want a shower. I need to wash Barnaby from my skin. I wonder what Andrius will do to him. The man with the wolf eyes and handsome face but with a chilling coldness about him that makes him terrifying. I find I don’t care. I hope he slowly kills him. Fuck him . I feel a pang of pity for Sian, but I have no idea what she did and didn’t know, and she’s one sick girl who needs help.

Wanting that house and their entire family sloughed from my skin, I shudder.

“I need to get cleaned up,” I say. “Do I have time?”

“Of course; do you want me to run you a bath? We need to get the plane fueled, and the slots booked, but I want to be gone as soon as it is ready. You’ve got time for a soak.”

I shake my head. I couldn’t lie still in a bath. I’m about to explode, so maybe Alexis was looking at me just the right way. “No, a shower is good.”

There’s an awkwardness between us, and I can’t cross the chasm that seems to have been created. We argued, and then I called Sian and set all of this in motion. So maybe he doesn’t want me because he sees me as too much trouble. But then, why come for me?

Is this weird tension between us because of what’s happened tonight? Perhaps discovering that I drugged Barnaby and beat him has made me unattractive to him. Who can guess at what is going on in his brain? He is a closed book. Scratch that—he’s a padlocked diary with the pages glued together, he’s that inscrutable at times.

I don’t know what our future holds because I need Cade to be safe, and I need to be free. Dimitri can’t keep me if he’s simply going to put me in a nicer cage than Barnaby did. I’ll simply keep escaping.

None of that matters to me in this moment, though. Right now I want him, desperately, but anything else? Long term? That’s all up in the air.

Maybe he needs to hear my hard line, the thing I won’t accept moving forward. Then he knows where he stands. I want to fuck him, but not as his compliant good girl, although I love that dynamic. Right now, I want something different.

“I won’t be caged,” I whisper.

“I know.” He watches me intently. “I don’t want to cage you.”

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“What do you want?”

“I want you by my side. As my fucking queen. You are magnificent.”

“Really?” I cock my head. I thought he’d be dismayed at this new me. Want to stuff me back in that box he first found me in. The innocent young woman.

“Fuck, yes.” He grins, and if I thought he was beautiful mere moments ago, he’s so blinding now it’s like the sun coming out from the clouds.

And just like that, my desire ramps up another notch. Hell, the discussions can wait. I’m so wound up and full of adrenaline that I need to fight him, or screw him, and only one of those is a viable proposition. I suck in air and glance at the shower. “Care to join me?”

He’s already pulling off his T-shirt as I finish my sentence. He turns to fold it on the chair, and I look at the huge tattoo on his back. I walk up to him and run my fingers around it. “What does this mean to you really?” I ask.

“Not what I thought it meant,” he says, mysteriously. “We have a lot to talk about. I’ve learned some things that change a lot.”

“Like?”

“Like, I understand you and the way you need to be sure Cade is safe ... so much more than I did.”

Those words give me hope, but they’re heavy. Important. I don’t want that now. Later. It can wait until later when I’ve sloughed off the excess energy racing over my skin, making it tingle and burn.

I step closer. He smells of expensive cologne, spices and musk with a hint of citrus. It’s delicious. I lean in against him, wrap my arms around his waist, and kiss his back. The muscles tense and bunch under my touch.

So much power under this skin.

“What’s it like?” I murmur.

“What?” He takes hold of my hands, huge, warm palms covering the backs of my smaller hands.

“To have so much power and strength? To walk through the world not afraid?”

He stills and tenses. Softly he says, “You think I’m not afraid?”

“Are you? What of?”

He laughs. “Littleblue. So many things I can’t list them all here. Losing people I love. Screwing up so badly that I fuck up my life. The goddamn ringing in my ears getting so bad that I can’t stand it anymore.”

“The ringing? Is it awful? Will it be with you always?”

“I have tinnitus.” He turns to face me and tips my chin up. “I was in an explosion. On tour. My friends ... they died.” He swallows hard. “It caused an injury to my leg, and the air was sucked from my ears, causing permanent damage.”

Oh, God. I want to cry, but that is entirely the wrong reaction in this moment he’s showing me his truth. I swallow it down and focus on his words.

“The hearing loss sucks. I have to lip read a lot of the time, but the worst thing is the ringing.” He dips his head and stares at the floor. “You made it not matter. It didn’t stop as such, but you quietened the roaring in my mind, so that the ringing in my ears just didn’t matter .”

Holy hell. My palms flatten against his chest, and his head drops to rest on top of mine. “So you’re entirely wrong, littleblue. I do have fears. I have weaknesses. I am mortal the same as you. All those men who came for you are the same. We all bleed. We all fear. We all love. And we all hate. The same as you.”

“What do you fear the most?” I ask.

“Losing you,” he says simply. “Before you, it was losing my mind.”

“That’s a heavy load to carry,” I say.

“Yeah. Well, we all have crosses to bear.” Then he lifts his head from mine and tips my chin up. “How are you holding up?”

I’m still processing what he said. His biggest fear is losing me. It seems as if he’s changed his mind, and his heart, on so much since we last talked and argued about a possible future. I want to ask more, but I also need to wash the filth of the past week off me before I lose my mind. “Other than wanting a shower, I’m okay. Strangely okay.”

He nods. “Maybe you are, and I hope so. Could be delayed shock, though. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He breaks the moment, and I struggle to get the tight dress up over my hips. Ugh. I’ve sweated, and the damn material now clings to my skin like food wrap.

“Aggh,” I cry out in frustration.

Dimitri, only in his boxer briefs now, simply grabs the material in his huge hands and rips it right down the center. The dress falls apart in two tattered bits of material as it slips from my body.

It leaves me in nothing but a thong.

He groans at the sight of me naked, and suddenly I don’t care that I’m a sweaty mess or that Barnaby’s poisonous touch is still on me. I need to feel Dimitri. Skin on skin. I step into him, and he pulls me against his solid chest. My nipples pebble, and I shiver as his palms slide over my back to my ass, where he grabs a handful of flesh and squeezes as he pulls me closer. His hardness rests solid and thick against my belly.

One hand stays on my ass as the other slides up to my nape and then grabs my hair, twisting it. Using it to angle my head where he wants it, he kisses me hungry and hard. I give back as good as I get. My tongue tangles in his, fighting for what we both need.

We take and take and sigh into each other, and his addicting taste hits me like a heady rush of adrenaline, making me dizzy and high on this chemical attraction between us.

I’m ravenous for him and overcome with need for the touch of someone I don’t hate. I’ve been so repulsed for the longest time now, while being held by Barnaby, that all I want is the heat of Dimitri.

I had feared after that head fuck massage that I might never be able to be touched again, but right now, it’s all I want. I bite at his jaw, suck at his throat, and leave kisses in the hollow of his throat. He’s so fucking gorgeous I want to eat him up.

Kissing my way up his neck, I nibble at the shell of his ear, and he shivers. There’s a chair behind him, and I push him down on it with my palms against his chest. He sits and looks up at me, eyes burning as I take the thong off and then straddle him.

His palms cup my breasts and hold their weight, his thumbs rubbing over my nipples. I gasp as he tortures them while his hands squeeze my flesh. He pushes my breasts together and bends his head to gently scrape his teeth against the sensitive points. Dimitri worships my breasts. He kisses them, massages them, and bites, sucks, and licks at my nipples. He gets me so worked up that I’m squirming on his lap.

I stand, just to pull his briefs down. He hitches his hips up from the chair, helping me, and they slide down his legs before he kicks them to one side. We’re both breathing heavily, and his chest is flushed with a tinge of red.

He’s as needy for me as I am for him. We’re two addicts, and our drug of choice is each other.

I grab his beautiful, thick cock and run my fingers over the veins on the side. He sucks in air, and I work my hand up and down his length. He’s so big it makes my mouth water. Parting my folds, he strokes me, and his eyes darken. “You’re so fucking wet,” he says.

I am. For him. Always for him. But I don’t tell him my shameful secret. I’ve been wet ever since I made Barnaby crawl naked around that room. Ever since I took my power back. Does that make me sick? As bad as him? I keep that little detail to myself, not wanting to be judged.

Pushing his fingers inside me, he finds that spot which makes me feral and presses against it until I’m writhing on his fingers, and the sounds that fill the room as he fucks me with them are obscene.

“Come for me, littleblue. Let me see you fall apart.” He flicks my clit with his other hand, and I shatter as I come, my legs spread wide, and his gaze traveling from my face to my pussy and back again.

After I recover from the aftershocks, he pushes his thick girth inside me, making me gasp as I clench around him. He releases a string of what sound like profanities in Russian.

This is what happens when a cold weather front meets a hot one—they create a storm.

“Work yourself on my cock, baby,” he orders.

And I do. I grind up and down, taking my time, teasing him as much as I'm teasing myself. I lean forward so that my breasts rub against his rock hard chest, relishing the sensation against my over sensitized nipples. I curl my fingers into his thick hair as I bend down and take him in a fierce kiss. My speed intensifies, and soon I'm bouncing on him as fast and hard as I can, chasing a second release.

We’re both sweating now, and as things build to a crescendo, he tears his mouth from mine with a growl, and picks me up, carrying me with ease across the room. He doesn't put me on the bed, but swipes some books from a dresser against the wall and sets me down on the smooth wooden surface. He does all of this while still deep inside me, and goes right back to hammering into me as soon as my legs wrap around his waist.

I can feel myself cresting once more, and I move too, urging him on. But then he stops. My eyes flicker open, and I stare at him in puzzlement. I'm panting as hard as he is, and I grab his lower back, attempting to get him moving again, but he shakes his head.

“Ah, ah, littleblue. You only get to come when you admit the truth.”

“What truth?” I gasp.

“That. You. Are. Mine.”

“No,” I say. “I’m not a possession, something you can own. I’m free.”

“Oh, littleblue, no, you’re not because neither am I.”

“Dimitri,” I whimper as I attempt to rub against him.

His hand whips out and wraps around my throat, stilling me, and applying pressure. It’s not enough to choke me, but it reduces my air, and it’s such a dominant thing for him to do that it has my pussy gushing for him.

He grins sadistically. “I felt that. See? That’s why you’re mine. Because I know what this pussy needs, and I know how to give it to her. You want to go and play with boys who have no clue how to please a woman like you? A woman of power, and fire, and deep depths of ice?”

His words make me moan.

“I’ll let you come, if you say it. Admit the truth that you and I both know.”

I shake my head as tears fill my eyes. He rubs my clit, drawing lazy circles on it and increasing his speed as the tension in me builds. Oh, thank God. I need this more than air. But then he stops, and I sob.

He squeezes my throat a little tighter. “Say it, littleblue. Spill your secret. As much as you want to fight it, you’re mine.”

He pinches my clit and lets go, and I feel mindless in my desire.

“Three little words,” he coaxes. “That’s all. I. Am. Yours.”

He bends his head and sucks a nipple into his mouth, sliding that massive cock out of me and pushing it back in, knocking the breath from me and hitting my G-spot.

Tiny little spasms start, but then he stops utterly still, and I want to scream in frustration as a tiny, ruined orgasm sweeps over me, leaving me even more on edge and needing more.

“I. Am. Yours.” He licks my lower lip and bites my jaw.

“Please let me come.”

He strums my clit, and I pant as he gets me to the edge and stops again. Fuck this—I have to come. I’ll surely die if I don’t.

“I’m yours,” I gasp.

“Again,” he demands as he slides his finger around my clit but not quite touching it.

“I’m yours,” I sob. “All yours.”

He drags his thick cock out and then slams back in, making me see stars. He pets my clit as he fucks me senseless, and when the orgasm hits, I scream.

“Who do you belong to? Say it.”

“Dimitri Baranov,” I scream as I come so hard I almost pass out.

I go boneless and zone out as he thrusts hard and fast until he finds his release. I’ve lost track of time and reality. He’s ruined me, and I’ve ruined him in return. We’re both a little broken and a little bit dark, and maybe that’s why we’re so drawn to each other.

Dimitri picks me up and carries me into the bathroom. He places me under the shower and turns me to face the wall. As he soaps me all over, with tenderness and care, he kisses my shoulder.

“I’ll keep you safe,” he says. “Cade too.”

My heart sings at those words; it’s what I’ve been waiting to hear, but how? What will our lives look like? There are still so many things I need to discuss with him. Does he expect me to just move in with him? If not, where will we live? Will he expect me to go everywhere with security the way he does? That’s no life, or at least not the life I wanted.

“You used sex as a weapon,” I grumble. “Now I belong to you, and you got that by using your masculine wiles.” He turns me to face him.

“Say that again?” he asks, and I remember, he can’t hear easily. I repeat the words exactly and notice the way he follows my lips with his gaze as I do.

“Masculine wiles?” He laughs softly against my hair after I’ve repeated my displeasure to him.

“What about you, huh? Do you belong to me?” I look back at him over my shoulder when I speak but then turn to the wall.

I expect him to say something about that not being the way it works. He doesn’t.

“Absolutely,” he says. “I’m yours, and you are mine. I belong to you. You’ve fucking bewitched me, littleblue. I’ve been in hell these past days with you being gone. I never want to go through that again.”

He turns me around, gentle and slow. Facing him with the water pounding down on my back, he tips my chin up. “I love you, Adriana.”

My breath freezes in my lungs. I can’t suck any air in, or blow it out. There’s just airless stasis as my brain tries to catch up with the words.

“That scares you a little, huh? Don’t be. I take very good care of those I love.”

“You love me ? You don’t know me.”

He grins at me, and it’s just perfection on his face. “I know you drugged a man, using a plant from his own garden, and made him crawl around his playroom. Even if all the rest of your awesomeness didn’t exist, I think that would have been enough to make me fall.”

“Dimitri,” I breathe.

“I love the way your neck and chest flush when you come. I love the sounds you make. I love the way you smell. I love the freckles on the back of your hand and the way you silently mouth the words of the book you’re reading. I love how you care so much about Cade, and you’re such a mama bear over him. I love that you read so much. I love that you are so fucking brave.”

I can’t speak. A strange little whimper escapes me instead of words.

“Most of all, littleblue, I love that when you are here, I can rest and ignore the screaming in my head.”

He takes my face in the palm of his hands. “I know I have to win your love, and I will. I’ll get down on one knee when the time is right and ask . I won’t order. Know this one thing, though, when it comes to safety, your safety, I’m going to be an asshole.”

I smile weakly, exhaustion filling the cracks where the adrenaline has seeped away.

He finishes washing me gently, leads me out of the shower, pats me dry with the fluffiest towel I’ve ever felt and then carries me to bed. He wraps me in his arms, and I close my eyes.